Process for the manufacture of vegetable wool



Patented May 20, 1930 PATENT OFFICE J'EANJ'ULES nmnnnorn, or nxnrrn,FRANCE PROCESS FOR THE MANUFACTURE OF VEGETABLE WOOL 1T0 Drawing.Application filed Hay-31, 1929, Serial No. 367,637, and in France June9, 1928.

This invention relates to a new application of the treatment ofvegetable fibers disclosed in the application Serial No. 290,049 of July2nd, 1928. y

6 Said new application not only prevents the treated fibers fromputrefaction but lends them sufiicient strength to resist subsequently atreatment with acids or soda for the purpose of giving them theappearance of animal 10 Wool.

The process disclosed in above mentioned patent application consistsessentially in causing the penetration, into any vegetable fibers, of afat (mineral oil or any other fatty matter) introduced at hightemperature in a boiling bath of saponified fats, specially containingmineral oils.

According to this invention, above means applied in a new way arecombined with various treatments which give the textile fibers theappearance of animal wool.

As an example of the manner this invenvention can be carried out, asuccession of treatments of vegetable fibers will be describedhereinafter.

The fibers are first treated mechanically for the purpose of renderingthem flexible and in order to separate the small pellicles and part ofthe gum whichmay adhere to said so fibers.

After this mechanical treatment has been achieved, the flexible fibersare ihtroduced into a suitable vat in which is circulating a hot bathcontaining, for one liter of water,

3 grams of oleic acid,

2 grams of mineral oil,

1 gram of 36 B. soda lye,

1 gram of sodium carbonate. This hot bath circulates at a great speed insaid'vat which contains the vegetable fibers, this speed beingapproximately one meter per second. The duration of the operation maylast from one and a half to four hours according to the kind of fibers.

The mineral oil, which is saponifiedor emulsified by the presence of thebase, lubricates'the fibers and protects them against the corrosive anddestructive action of the subsequent treatment described hereinafter.This lubrication permits the retention in the fibers of thewhole of thecellulose they contain.

The fibers thus lubricated are thereupon plunged into a cold bath ofcaustic soda of 10 to 24 B., the contents of the bath in soda beingsubject to variations according to the kind of fibers treated. Thisimmersion is continued during a time which may vary, also according tothe kind of fibers, from fifteen minutes to three-hours. As in theprevious bath this bath of caustic soda will pass rapidly through thevat in which the fibers are maintaineCL- After this treatment the fibersare rinsed and submitted to the action of baths which circulate rapidlyand which are suitably acidified in order to neutralize the excess ofcaustic soda which may be contained in the fibers.

The fibers are then submitted to the bleaching action of a bath ofsodium hypochlorite containing twenty five grams per liter or to anyequivalent treatment.

The fibers are then rinsed and finally submitted to a softening bathcontaining a neutral soap and sodium monosulfide; these compounds may becontained in the bath in the ratio of 10 grams of soap and one gram ofsodium monosulfide for a liter of water. The duration of the immersionin this bath varies from half an hour to two hours according to the kindof fibers.

Finally the fibers are wrung and dried by the means usually used formineral wool.

A vegetable wool with the appearance of 8 animal wool is thus obtained.

It is to be understood, as said before, that the proportions ofmaterials contained in the various baths to which they are submitted mayvary according to the kind of fibers to which this process applies. Itis also to be understood that, without altering the scope of theinvention, the kind of the materials entering into the composition ofthe baths may be altered in some cases as long as the properties of saidbaths do not suffer thereby.

What I claim is Process of treatment of vegetable fibers, to give themthe properties of animal wool, comprising a mechanical treatment for theloo sajfaration of small pellicles and part of the hering ms, aprotective lubricating-treatment of t e fibers with a hot saponifyingbath, a treatment with a rapidly circulating cold caustic lye, aneutralization by immersion in an acidulated and rapidly circulatingbath, the bleaching of the fibers, the rinsing of the fibers, thetreatment by a softening bath containing neutral soap and sodiummonosulfide and the wringing and dr ing of the fibers;

In testimony whereof I ave signed this specification.

JEAN JULES LAMBREOTH.

